100 Notable alumni of
University of Massachusetts - Amherst
Updated:
The University of Massachusetts - Amherst is 165th in the world, 76th in North America, and 73rd in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 100 notable alumni from the University of Massachusetts - Amherst sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff.
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Richard Gere
- Occupations
- television actoractorhuman rights activiststage actorvoice actor
- Biography
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Richard Tiffany Gere is an American actor. He began in films in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977) and a starring role in Days of Heaven (1978). He came to prominence with his role in the film American Gigolo (1980), which established him as a leading man and a sex symbol. His other films include An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), The Cotton Club (1984), Pretty Woman (1990), Sommersby (1993), Primal Fear (1996), Runaway Bride (1999), I'm Not There (2007), Arbitrage (2012) and Norman (2016). For portraying Billy Flynn in the musical Chicago (2002), he won a Golden Globe Award.
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Bill Cosby
- Occupations
- dub actorrecording artistvoice actortelevision producertelevision actor
- Biography
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William Henry Cosby Jr. is an American former comedian, actor, spokesman, and media personality. Cosby gained a reputation as "America's Dad" for his portrayal of Cliff Huxtable on The Cosby Show (1984–1992). He has received numerous awards and honorary degrees throughout his career, many of which were revoked following sexual assault allegations made against him in 2014.
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Liev Schreiber
- Occupations
- writertelevision actoractorstage actorvoice actor
- Biography
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Isaac Liev Schreiber is an American actor, director, screenwriter, and producer. He became known during the late 1990s and early 2000s after appearing in several independent films, and later mainstream Hollywood films. He has received numerous accolades including a Tony Award as well as nominations for nine Emmy Awards and five Golden Globe Awards.
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Bill Pullman
- Occupations
- television actorfilm directorstage actorfilm actorfilm producer
- Biography
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William Pullman is an American actor. After graduating with a Master of Fine Arts degree in theater, he was an adjunct professor at Montana State University before deciding to pursue acting. He made his film debut in Ruthless People (1986), and starred in Spaceballs (1987), The Accidental Tourist (1988), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), While You Were Sleeping (1995), Casper (1995), Independence Day (1996), Lost Highway (1997), and Lake Placid (1999). He has appeared frequently on television, usually in TV films. Starting in the 2000s he has also acted in miniseries and regular series, such as Torchwood (2011), starring roles in 1600 Penn (2012–13) and The Sinner (2017–2021). In 2021, he had a recurring role in the miniseries Halston.
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Natalie Cole
- Occupations
- voice actortelevision actorpianistcomposersinger-songwriter
- Biography
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Natalie Maria Cole was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She was the daughter of singer and jazz pianist Nat King Cole. She rose to prominence in the mid-1970s, with the release of her debut album Inseparable (1975), along with the song "This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)", and the album's title track. Its success led to her receiving the Grammy Award for Best New Artist at the 18th Annual Grammy Awards, for which she became the first African-American recipient, as well as the first R&B act to win the award. The singles "Sophisticated Lady" (1976), "I've Got Love on My Mind", and "Our Love" (1977) followed.
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Julius Erving
- Occupations
- actorbusinesspersonbasketball player
- Biography
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Julius Winfield Erving II, commonly known by the nickname Dr. J, is an American former professional basketball player. Erving helped legitimize the American Basketball Association (ABA), and he was the best-known player in that league when it merged into the National Basketball Association (NBA) after the 1975–1976 season.
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Jeffrey Donovan
- Occupations
- television actorstage actorfilm actoractorfilm producer
- Biography
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Jeffrey Donovan is an American actor. He played Michael Westen in the television series Burn Notice, and appeared in films such as Hitch, Believe in Me, Changeling, and Come Early Morning. He played Robert F. Kennedy in Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar (2011) and his brother John F. Kennedy in Rob Reiner's LBJ (2016). He had a recurring role in the second season of the TV series Fargo (2015). From 2022 to 2023, he starred as NYPD Detective Frank Cosgrove on the revival of the NBC crime drama Law & Order. He left the show before the 23rd season due to creative differences.
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Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- Occupations
- mathematicianuniversity teachereconomistwriterstatistician
- Biography
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Nassim Nicholas Taleb is a Lebanese-American essayist, mathematical statistician, former option trader, risk analyst, and aphorist whose work concerns problems of randomness, probability, and uncertainty.
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John F. Kelly
- Occupations
- military officerpolitician
- Biography
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John Francis Kelly is an American former political advisor and retired U.S. Marine Corps general who served as White House chief of staff for President Donald Trump from 2017 to 2019. He had previously served as Secretary of Homeland Security in the Trump administration and was commander of United States Southern Command. Kelly is a board member at Caliburn International.
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Rick Pitino
- Occupations
- basketball playerbasketball coach
- Biography
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Richard Andrew Pitino is an American basketball coach who is the men's head coach for St. John's Red Storm. He was also the head coach of Greece's senior national team. He has been the head coach of several teams in NCAA Division I and in the NBA, including Boston University (1978–1983), Providence College (1985–1987), the New York Knicks (1987–1989), the University of Kentucky (1989–1997), the Boston Celtics (1997–2001), the University of Louisville (2001–2017), Panathinaikos of the Greek Basket League and EuroLeague (2018–2020), and Iona University (2020–2023).
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Ted Hughes
- Occupations
- science fiction writertranslatorwriterchildren's writerastrologer
- Biography
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Edward James Hughes was an English poet, translator, and children's writer. Critics frequently rank him as one of the best poets of his generation and one of the twentieth century's greatest writers. He was appointed Poet Laureate in 1984 and held the office until his death. In 2008 The Times ranked Hughes fourth on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".
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James Foley
- Occupations
- journalistphotojournalistteacher
- Biography
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James Wright Foley was an American journalist and video reporter. While working as a freelance war correspondent during the Syrian Civil War, he was abducted on November 22, 2012, in northwestern Syria. He was murdered by decapitation in August 2014 purportedly as a response to American airstrikes in Iraq, thus becoming the first American citizen killed by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
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Jack Welch
- Occupations
- entrepreneurbusinesspersonwriterjournalistengineer
- Biography
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John Francis Welch Jr. was an American business executive. He was chairman and CEO of General Electric (GE) between 1981 and 2001.
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Fardeen Khan
- Occupations
- film actor
- Biography
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Fardeen Khan is an Indian actor who mainly works in Hindi films. Born to actor and film producer Feroz Khan and part of the Khan family, he is the recipient of a Filmfare Award.
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Betty Shabazz
- Occupations
- human rights activistnurse
- Biography
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Betty Shabazz, also known as Betty X, was an American educator and civil rights advocate. She was married to Malcolm X.
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Rob Corddry
- Occupations
- television actorcomedianactortelevision directorvoice actor
- Biography
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Robert William Corddry is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his work as a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (2002–2006) and for his starring role in the film Hot Tub Time Machine. He is the creator and star of Adult Swim's Childrens Hospital and has been awarded four Primetime Emmy Awards. He previously starred in the HBO series Ballers and the CBS comedy The Unicorn.
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Paul Theroux
- Occupations
- professorliterary criticinternational forum participantscreenwritertravel writer
- Biography
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Paul Edward Theroux is an American novelist and travel writer who has written numerous books, including the travelogue The Great Railway Bazaar (1975). Some of his works of fiction have been adapted as feature films. He was awarded the 1981 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel The Mosquito Coast, which was adapted for the 1986 movie of the same name and the 2021 television series of the same name.
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Buffy Sainte-Marie
- Enrolled in the University of Massachusetts - Amherst
- Studied pedagogy and Eastern philosophy
- Occupations
- visual artistrecord producercomposersinger-songwriterauthor
- Biography
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Buffy Sainte-Marie, is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and social activist.
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Camille Cosby
- Occupations
- television producerwriter
- Biography
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Camille Olivia Cosby is an American television producer, philanthropist, and the wife of comedian Bill Cosby. The character of Clair Huxtable from The Cosby Show was based on her. Cosby has avoided public life, but has been active in her husband's businesses as a manager, as well as involving herself in academia and writing. In 1990, Cosby earned a master's degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, followed by a Doctorate of Education (Ed.D.) in 1992.
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Lynn Margulis
- Occupations
- evolutionary biologistuniversity teacherbotanistzoologistmicrobiologist
- Biography
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Lynn Margulis was an American evolutionary biologist, and was the primary modern proponent for the significance of symbiosis in evolution. Historian Jan Sapp has said that "Lynn Margulis's name is as synonymous with symbiosis as Charles Darwin's is with evolution." In particular, Margulis transformed and fundamentally framed current understanding of the evolution of cells with nuclei – an event Ernst Mayr called "perhaps the most important and dramatic event in the history of life" – by proposing it to have been the result of symbiotic mergers of bacteria. In 2002, Discover magazine recognized Margulis as one of the 50 most important women in science.
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Taj Mahal
- Occupations
- blues musicianguitaristcomposerrecording artistsinger
- Biography
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Henry St. Claire Fredericks Jr., better known by his stage name Taj Mahal, is an American blues musician. He plays the guitar, piano, banjo, harmonica, and many other instruments, often incorporating elements of world music into his work. Mahal has done much to reshape the definition and scope of blues music over the course of his more than 50-year career by fusing it with nontraditional forms, including sounds from the Caribbean, Africa, India, Hawaii, and the South Pacific.
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Black Francis
- Occupations
- singer-songwriterguitaristsingermusicianrecord producer
- Biography
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Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known as the frontman of the alternative rock band Pixies, with whom he performs under the stage name Black Francis. Following the band's breakup in 1993, he embarked on a solo career under the name Frank Black. After releasing two albums with record label 4AD and one with American Recordings, he left the label and formed a new band, Frank Black and the Catholics. He re-adopted the name Black Francis in 2007.
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Marcus Camby
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Marcus Dion Camby is an American former professional basketball player who played 17 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was named Defensive Player of the Year during the 2006–07 NBA season, leading the league in blocked shots per game. Camby is also a four-time member of the NBA All-Defensive Team and is 12th on the NBA's all-time career blocks list.
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Hina Rabbani Khar
- Occupations
- diplomatentrepreneurpoliticianeconomistinternational forum participant
- Biography
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Hina Rabbani Khar is a Pakistani politician, who served as the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs since 19 April 2022 till 10 August 2023. She was previously appointed in July 2011 as the Foreign Minister of Pakistan at the age of 33, she was the youngest person and the first woman to have held the position. Khar had been a member of the National Assembly from August 2018 to August 2023.
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Chuck Close
- Occupations
- graphic artistarchitectural draftspersonphotographercollagistprintmaker
- Biography
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Charles Thomas Close was an American painter, visual artist, and photographer who made massive-scale photorealist and abstract portraits of himself and others. Close also created photo portraits using a very large format camera. He adapted his painting style and working methods in 1988, after being paralyzed by an occlusion of the anterior spinal artery.
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Phil Laak
- Occupations
- poker player
- Biography
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Philip Courtney Laak is an Irish–American professional poker player and a poker commentator, now residing in Los Angeles, California. Laak holds a World Poker Tour (WPT) title, a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet, and has appeared on numerous nationally aired television shows.
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Cale Makar
- Occupations
- ice hockey player
- Biography
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Cale Douglas Makar is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman for the Colorado Avalanche of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected with the fourth overall pick by the Avalanche in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft.
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Bill Bulger
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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William Michael Bulger is an American former Democratic politician, lawyer, and educator from South Boston, Massachusetts. His eighteen-year tenure as President of the Massachusetts Senate is the longest in history. After leaving office, he became president of the University of Massachusetts.
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Richard D. Wolff
- Occupations
- economistuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Richard David Wolff is an American Marxian economist known for his work on economic methodology and class analysis. He is a professor emeritus of economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a visiting professor in the graduate program in international affairs of the New School. Wolff has also taught economics at Yale University, City University of New York, University of Utah, University of Paris I (Sorbonne), and The Brecht Forum in New York City.
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David Pakman
- Occupations
- YouTuberpoliticianradio personalitytelevision producerjournalist
- Biography
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David Pakman is an American liberal talk show host and political commentator. He is the host of the talk radio program The David Pakman Show. He was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and is a naturalized citizen of the United States.
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Max Roach
- Occupations
- percussionistuniversity teachercomposerjazz musicianbandleader
- Biography
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Maxwell Lemuel Roach was an American jazz drummer and composer. A pioneer of bebop, he worked in many other styles of music, and is generally considered one of the most important drummers in history. He worked with many famous jazz musicians, including Clifford Brown, Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Abbey Lincoln, Dinah Washington, Charles Mingus, Billy Eckstine, Stan Getz, Sonny Rollins, Eric Dolphy, and Booker Little. He also played with his daughter Maxine Roach, Grammy nominated Violist. He was inducted into the DownBeat Hall of Fame in 1980 and the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1992.
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J Mascis
- Occupations
- film actorguitaristfilm producersinger-songwritersinger
- Biography
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Joseph Donald Mascis Jr., better known as J Mascis, is an American musician who is the singer, guitarist and main songwriter for the alternative rock band Dinosaur Jr. He has also released several albums as a solo artist and played drums and guitar on other projects. He was ranked number 74 in a Rolling Stone list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists", and number 5 in a similar list for Spin magazine in 2012.
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Norm Abram
- Occupations
- television personalitycarpenter
- Biography
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Norm Abram is an American carpenter, writer, and television host best known for his work on the PBS television programs This Old House and The New Yankee Workshop. He is a master carpenter and has published several books and articles about the craft.
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William Smith Clark
- Occupations
- university teacherwriterbotanical collectorbotanistchemist
- Biography
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William Smith Clark was an American professor of chemistry, botany, and zoology; a colonel during the American Civil War; and a leader in agricultural education. Raised and schooled in Easthampton, Massachusetts, Clark spent most of his adult life in Amherst, Massachusetts. He graduated from Amherst College in 1848 and obtained a doctorate in chemistry from Georgia Augusta University in Göttingen in 1852. He then served as professor of chemistry at Amherst College from 1852 to 1867. During the Civil War, he was granted leave from Amherst to serve with the 21st Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, eventually achieving the rank of colonel and the command of that unit.
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Roxanne Modafferi
- Occupations
- mixed martial arts fighterjudoka
- Biography
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Roxanne Vincenta Modafferi is an American retired mixed martial artist, who most recently fought for the UFC. Though she last fought in the flyweight division, she has fought in multiple weight classes in her career. She has been a professional competitor since 2003.
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Kang Kyung-hwa
- Occupations
- diplomatpoliticianinternational forum participant
- Biography
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Kang Kyung-wha is a South Korean diplomat and politician who served as the first female Foreign Minister of South Korea under President Moon Jae-in from 2017 to 2021 as well as the first woman nominated for and appointed to the position. She is also the first Korean woman to hold a high-level position in the United Nations. Previously, Kang was the first non-exam-taker to become a director-general in the ministry. She is the first South Korean foreign minister to join the official South Korean delegation for the inter-Korean summit as well as to visit Pyongyang, the North Korean capital. Kang is the incoming president and CEO of the Asia Society.
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Marilynne Robinson
- Occupations
- novelistscience fiction writerwriteressayist
- Biography
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Marilynne Summers Robinson is an American novelist and essayist. Across her writing career, Robinson has received numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2005, National Humanities Medal in 2012, and the 2016 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction. In 2016, Robinson was named in Time magazine's list of 100 most influential people. Robinson began teaching at the Iowa Writers' Workshop in 1991 and retired in the spring of 2016.
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Samuel R. Delany
- Occupations
- authorwriterscience fiction writercartoonistjournalist
- Biography
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Samuel R. "Chip" Delany is an American writer and literary critic. His work includes fiction (especially science fiction), memoir, criticism, and essays on science fiction, literature, sexuality, and society. His fiction includes Babel-17, The Einstein Intersection (winners of the Nebula Award for 1966 and 1967, respectively); Hogg, Nova, Dhalgren, the Return to Nevèrÿon series, and Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders. His nonfiction includes Times Square Red, Times Square Blue, About Writing, and eight books of essays. He has won four Nebula awards and two Hugo Awards, and he was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 2002.
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Anshu Jain
- Occupations
- bankerbusiness executiveinternational forum participant
- Biography
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Anshuman Jain was an Indian-born British business executive. From 2017 to 2022, he was the president of the American financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald.
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Jonathan Quick
- Occupations
- ice hockey player
- Biography
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Jonathan Douglas Quick is an American professional ice hockey goaltender for the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL). Quick was selected in the third round, 72nd overall, by the Los Angeles Kings at the 2005 NHL Entry Draft.
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John B. Anderson
- Occupations
- politicianuniversity teacher
- Biography
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John Bayard Anderson was an American lawyer and politician who served in the United States House of Representatives, representing Illinois's 16th congressional district from 1961 to 1981. A member of the Republican Party, he also served as the Chairman of the House Republican Conference from 1969 until 1979. In 1980, he ran an independent campaign for president, receiving 6.6% of the popular vote.
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Kenny Aronoff
- Occupations
- drummermusician
- Biography
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Kenneth D. Aronoff is an American drummer originally from Massachusetts. He has played in backing bands for singers such as John Mellencamp and John Fogerty, plus session work on many albums and TV shows. He has taught drumming at the college level and owns a recording studio as well. His drumming skills have been recognized by magazines such as Rolling Stone and Modern Drummer.
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John Legere
- Years
- 1958-.. (age 66)
- Occupations
- businessperson
- Biography
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John Legere is an American businessman, former chief executive officer (CEO) and president of T-Mobile US. He previously worked for AT&T, Dell, and Global Crossing. He resigned as CEO following the approval of the merger of T-Mobile and Sprint.
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Jeff Corwin
- Occupations
- biologisttelevision presenterconservationistactorecologist
- Biography
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Jeffrey Corwin is an American biologist and wildlife conservationist, known for hosting Disney Channel's Going Wild with Jeff Corwin, The Jeff Corwin Experience on Animal Planet, ABC's Ocean Mysteries with Jeff Corwin/Ocean Treks with Jeff Corwin and Wildlife Nation with Jeff Corwin.
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Frederick Heyliger
- Occupations
- military officer
- Biography
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Frederick Theodore 'Moose' Heyliger was an officer with Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, in the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army during World War II. He took part in D-Day and Operation Market Garden. Heyliger was portrayed in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers by Stephen McCole.
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Kenneth Feinberg
- Occupations
- lawyer
- Biography
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Kenneth Roy Feinberg is an American attorney specializing in mediation and alternative dispute resolution. He served as the Chief of Staff to Senator Ted Kennedy, Special Master of the U.S. government's September 11th Victim Compensation Fund and the Special Master for TARP Executive Compensation. Additionally, Feinberg served as the government-appointed administrator of the BP Deepwater Horizon Disaster Victim Compensation Fund. Feinberg was also appointed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to administer the One Fund—the victim assistance fund established in the wake of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings. Feinberg was also retained by General Motors to assist in their recall response and by Volkswagen to oversee their U.S. compensation of VW diesel owners affected by the Volkswagen emissions scandal. Feinberg was hired by The Boeing Company in July 2019, to oversee distribution of $50 million to support 737 MAX crash victim families. Feinberg is also an adjunct professor at the Columbia University School of Law, University of Pennsylvania Law School, Georgetown University Law Center, New York University School of Law, the University of Virginia School of Law and at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.
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Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar is an Indian royal and the great-grandson of Maharaja Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar. He was adopted by Pramoda Devi Wadiyar, the wife of his great-uncle Prince Srikantadatta Wadiyar fourteen months after the latter's demise on 10 December 2013. Yaduveer Wadiyar was installed as the "Maharaja of Mysore" in a private ceremony in 2015.
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Hau Lung-pin
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Hau Lung-pin is a Taiwanese politician. As a member of the New Party, he was elected to the Legislative Yuan in 1995, and resigned his seat to lead the Environmental Protection Administration in 2001. Hau stepped down from the EPA in 2003 and served as Mayor of Taipei from 2006 to 2014. He joined the Kuomintang (KMT) in 2006 and has served as vice chairman of the party in 2014 and from 2016 to 2020.
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Dana Gould
- Occupations
- voice actorwriteractortelevision actorscreenwriter
- Biography
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Dana Gould is an American stand-up comic, actor, writer and voice artist who has been featured on HBO, Showtime, and Comedy Central. He voiced Hi Larious in the TV series Father of the Pride (2004–2005) and the titular character in the Gex franchise.
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Amy Cuddy
- Enrolled in the University of Massachusetts - Amherst
- 1999-2000 studied social psychology
- Occupations
- university teacherpsychologistinternational forum participant
- Biography
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Amy Joy Casselberry Cuddy is an American social psychologist, author and speaker. She is a proponent of "power posing", a self-improvement technique whose scientific validity has been questioned. She has served as a faculty member at Rutgers University, Kellogg School of Management and Harvard Business School. Cuddy's most cited academic work involves using the stereotype content model that she helped develop to better understand the way people think about stereotyped people and groups. Though Cuddy left her tenure-track position at Harvard Business School in the spring of 2017, she continues to contribute to its executive education programs.
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Monica Gill
- Occupations
- actormodelbeauty pageant contestant
- Biography
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Monica Gill is an American model, actress and beauty pageant titleholder.
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Peter Laird
- Occupations
- comics artistwriterdrawerscreenwriter
- Biography
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Peter Alan Laird is an American comic book writer and artist best known for co-creating the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with writer and artist Kevin Eastman.
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Jack Canfield
- Occupations
- chief executive officerwritermotivational speaker
- Biography
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Jack Canfield is an American author and motivational speaker. He is the co-author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, which has more than 250 titles and 500 million copies in print in over 40 languages. In 2005 Canfield co-authored with Janet Switzer The Success Principles: How to Get From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be.
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Yusef Lateef
- Occupations
- university teachercomposernon-fiction writerrecording artistoboist
- Biography
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Yusef Abdul Lateef was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, and prominent figure among the Ahmadiyya Community in the United States.
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Augusten Burroughs
- Occupations
- novelistjournalistwriter
- Biography
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Augusten Xon Burroughs is an American writer best known for his New York Times bestselling memoir Running with Scissors (2002).
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Joey Santiago
- Occupations
- guitaristcomposer
- Biography
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Joseph Alberto Santiago is a Filipino-American guitarist and composer. Active since 1986, Santiago is best known as the co-founder and lead guitarist of the American alternative rock band Pixies. After the band's breakup in 1993, Santiago produced musical scores for film and television documentaries, and he formed The Martinis with his ex-wife, Linda Mallari. He also contributed to albums by Charles Douglas and former Pixies band-mate Frank Black. Santiago resumed his role as the Pixies' lead guitarist when they reunited in 2004.
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Neal Brown
- Occupations
- American football coachplayer of American footballhead coach
- Biography
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Neal Brown is an American college football coach and former player. He is the head football coach at West Virginia University. Brown was previously the head coach at Troy University from 2015 to 2018. Brown also previously served as the offensive coordinator at Troy (2008–2009), Texas Tech University (2010–2012), and the University of Kentucky (2013–2014).
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Archie Shepp
- Occupations
- university teacherjazz musiciancomposersaxophonistrecording artist
- Biography
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Archie Shepp is an American jazz saxophonist, educator and playwright who since the 1960s has played a central part in the development of avant-garde jazz.
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Michael E. Mann
- Occupations
- university teachernon-fiction writermeteorologistclimatologistgeophysicist
- Biography
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Michael Evan Mann is an American climatologist and geophysicist. He is the director of the Center for Science, Sustainability & the Media at the University of Pennsylvania. Mann has contributed to the scientific understanding of historic climate change based on the temperature record of the past thousand years. He has pioneered techniques to find patterns in past climate change and to isolate climate signals from noisy data.
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Makaziwe Mandela
- Occupations
- businesspersonanthropologist
- Biography
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Pumla Makaziwe "Maki" Mandela-Amuah is the daughter of Nelson Mandela and his first wife Evelyn Mase.
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William Monahan
- Occupations
- writerscreenwritercriticjournalistfilm director
- Biography
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William J. Monahan is an American screenwriter and novelist. His second produced screenplay was The Departed, a film that earned him a Writers Guild of America Award and Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
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Vernon L. Smith
- Occupations
- economistuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Vernon Lomax Smith is an American economist and professor of business economics and law at Chapman University. He was formerly a professor of economics at the University of Arizona, professor of economics and law at George Mason University, and a board member of the Mercatus Center. Along with Daniel Kahneman, Smith shared the 2002 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions to behavioral economics and his work in the field of experimental economics. He worked to establish 'laboratory experiments as a tool in empirical economic analysis, especially in the study of alternative market mechanisms'.
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Matthew Pottinger
- Years
- 1973-.. (age 51)
- Occupations
- military officerjournalist
- Biography
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Matthew Forbes Pottinger is an American former journalist and U.S. Marine Corps officer who served as the United States deputy national security advisor from September 22, 2019 to January 7, 2021. Previously Asia director on the National Security Council since 2017, his tenure was unusual among senior aides serving under President Trump for its length, given an administration marked by high turnover. Pottinger worked to develop the Trump administration's policies towards China.
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Audie Cornish
- Occupations
- radio personalityjournalist
- Biography
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Audie N. Cornish is an American journalist and a former co-host of NPR's All Things Considered. She is an anchor and correspondent for CNN and the host of The Assignment, a CNN Audio podcast. She was previously the host of Profile by BuzzFeed News, a web-only interview show that lasted one season, as well as NPR Presents, a long-form conversation series with creatives about their projects, processes, and shaping culture in America.
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Jenny Dell
- Occupations
- journalist
- Biography
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Jennifer Sheryl Dell–Middlebrooks is the lead college football reporter for CBS Sports. Dell previously worked as CBS’ #2 NFL sideline reporter in 2014. She also has worked for New England Sports Network (NESN) covering the Boston Red Sox. Since 2016, she has also been the co-host of the food show Campus Eats alongside Troy Johnson on the Big Ten Network.
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L. Fletcher Prouty
- Occupations
- military officerbanker
- Biography
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Leroy Fletcher Prouty served as Chief of Special Operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President John F. Kennedy. A colonel in the United States Air Force, he retired from military service to become a bank executive. He subsequently became a critic of U.S. foreign policy, particularly the covert activities of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which he believed was working on behalf of a secret world elite.
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Robert Epstein
- Occupations
- psychologisthistorian
- Biography
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Robert Epstein is an American psychologist, professor, author, and journalist. He was awarded a Ph.D. in psychology by Harvard University in 1981, was editor in chief of Psychology Today, and has held positions at several universities including Boston University, University of California, San Diego, and Harvard University. He is also the founder and director emeritus of the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies in Concord, MA. In 2012, he founded the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology (AIBRT), a nonprofit organization that conducts research to promote the well-being and functioning of people worldwide.
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J.B. Bernstein
- Occupations
- businessperson
- Biography
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J.B. Bernstein is the CEO of Access Group, an athlete management firm and chief marketing officer of Seven Figures Management, a sports marketing and athlete representation firm.
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Briana Scurry
- Occupations
- association football player
- Biography
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Briana Collette Scurry is an American retired soccer goalkeeper, and assistant coach of the Washington Spirit as of 2018. Scurry was the starting goalkeeper for the United States women's national soccer team at the 1995 World Cup (3rd place), 1996 Summer Olympics (gold medal), 1999 World Cup (champions), 2003 World Cup (3rd place), and the 2004 Summer Olympic Games (gold medal). She played in the semi-final and playoff for third place in the 2007 Women's World Cup (3rd place). She was a founding member of the WUSA, playing three seasons as starting goalkeeper for the Atlanta Beat (2001–2003).
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Ben Cherington
- Occupations
- baseball manager
- Biography
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Benjamin P. Cherington is an American baseball executive serving as the general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball (MLB) since November 2019. He previously served as the vice-president of baseball operations for the Toronto Blue Jays, and was the executive vice president and general manager of the Boston Red Sox from 2011 to 2015. He succeeded Theo Epstein in that position, having worked in the team's baseball operations office since 1999, before Epstein's arrival.
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Melinda Katz
- Occupations
- politicianlawyer
- Biography
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Melinda R. Katz is an American attorney and politician from New York City, serving as District Attorney of Queens since January 1, 2020. A Democrat, she previously served as the Queens Borough President. Katz was also a New York City Councilwoman from 2002 to 2009. She had previously run for City Comptroller in 2009. In June 2019, Katz won the Democratic nomination for Queens County's District Attorney, and won the general election in November 2019.
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Kamila Shamsie
- Occupations
- novelistwriter
- Biography
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Kamila Shamsie FRSL is a Pakistani and British writer and novelist who is best known for her award-winning novel Home Fire (2017). Named on Granta magazine's list of 20 best young British writers, Shamsie has been described by The New Indian Express as "a novelist to reckon with and to look forward to." She also writes for publications including The Guardian, New Statesman, Index on Censorship and Prospect, and broadcasts on radio.
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Conor Sheary
- Occupations
- ice hockey player
- Biography
-
Conor Michael Sheary is an American professional ice hockey winger who is currently playing for the Tampa Bay Lightning in the National Hockey League (NHL). He was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2014 and won back-to-back Stanley Cups in his first two seasons with the organization. Sheary has also played for the Buffalo Sabres and Washington Capitals.
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William Manchester
- Enrolled in the University of Massachusetts - Amherst
- In 1946 graduated with BA
- Occupations
- historianwriterbiographerauthorprofessor
- Biography
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William Raymond Manchester was an American author, biographer, and historian. He was the author of 18 books which have been translated into over 20 languages. He was awarded the National Humanities Medal and the Abraham Lincoln Literary Award.
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Rachael Rollins
- Occupations
- lawyer
- Biography
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Rachael Splaine Rollins is an American lawyer and politician who served as the U.S. attorney for District of Massachusetts from 2022 to 2023. Before that, she was the district attorney for Suffolk County, Massachusetts.
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Greg LaRocca
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
-
Gregory Mark LaRocca is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) second baseman who played for the San Diego Padres and Cleveland Indians between 2000 and 2003. He also played in the Nippon Professional Baseball league from 2004 to 2010.
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Brandon Montour
- Occupations
- ice hockey player
- Biography
-
Brandon Montour is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman for the Florida Panthers in the National Hockey League (NHL). Montour was selected by the Anaheim Ducks in the second round, 55th overall, of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.
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Stephane Lasme
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
-
Yann Ulrich Stéphane Lasme is a Gabonese former professional basketball player. He played college basketball at the University of Massachusetts (UMass), with the UMass Minutemen, and he was selected by the Golden State Warriors in the second round, 46th overall, in the 2007 NBA draft. In 2016 Stephane won the EuroCup Championship and earned the Finals MVP award, as well as, an All-EuroLeague Second Team selection in 2014 and won the EuroLeague Best Defender award in 2013, among others.
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Natasha Trethewey
- Enrolled in the University of Massachusetts - Amherst
- In 1995 graduated with Master of Fine Arts
- Occupations
- writerpoet
- Biography
-
Natasha Trethewey is an American poet who served as United States Poet Laureate from 2012 to 2014. She won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for her 2006 collection Native Guard, and is a former Poet Laureate of Mississippi.
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Edmund Gettier
- Occupations
- philosopheruniversity teacher
- Biography
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Edmund Lee Gettier III was an American philosopher at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He is best known for his article written in 1963: "Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?", which has generated an extensive philosophical literature trying to respond to what became known as the Gettier problem.
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Catherine Coleman
- Occupations
- air force officerscientistastronautchemistengineer
- Biography
-
Catherine Grace "Cady" Coleman is an American chemist, engineer, former United States Air Force colonel, and retired NASA astronaut. She is a veteran of two Space Shuttle missions, and departed the International Space Station on May 23, 2011, as a crew member of Expedition 27 after logging 159 days in space.
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Minouche Shafik
- Occupations
- economistinternational forum participant
- Biography
-
Nemat Talaat Shafik, Baroness Shafik; Arabic: نعمت شفيق, widely known as Minouche Shafik, is an Egyptian-born British and American economist who has been serving as the 20th president of Columbia University since July 2023. She previously served as president and vice chancellor of the London School of Economics from 2017 to 2023. She also serves on the board of directors of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
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Jane Yolen
- Occupations
- children's writerwriterpoetscience fiction writereditor
- Biography
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Jane Hyatt Yolen is an American writer of fantasy, science fiction, and children's books. She is the author or editor of more than 350 books, of which the best known is The Devil's Arithmetic, a Holocaust novella. Her other works include the Nebula Award−winning short story "Sister Emily's Lightship", the novelette "Lost Girls", Owl Moon, The Emperor and the Kite, and the Commander Toad series. She has collaborated on works with all three of her children, most extensively with Adam Stemple.
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Koby Altman
- Occupations
- basketball coach
- Biography
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Koby Altman is the President of Basketball Operations of the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
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Sheila Bair
- Occupations
- lawyeruniversity teacherpoliticianeconomistbusinessperson
- Biography
-
Sheila Colleen Bair is an American former government official who was the 19th Chair of the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) from 2006 to 2011, during which time she shortly after taking charge of the FDIC in June 2006 began warning of the potential systemic risks posed by the growing trend of subprime-mortgage-backed bonds, and then later assumed a prominent role in the government's response to the 2008 financial crisis. She was appointed to the post for a five-year term on June 26, 2006, by George W. Bush through July 8, 2011. She was subsequently the 28th president of Washington College in Chestertown, MD, the first female head of the college in its 234-year history, a position she held from 2015 until her resignation in 2017.
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Mohammed Fahmy
- Occupations
- journalistwriteropinion journalist
- Biography
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Mohamed Fadel Fahmy is an Egyptian-born Canadian journalist, war correspondent and author. He has worked extensively in the Middle East, North Africa, for CNN, BBC and Al Jazeera English.
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Becca Balint
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
Rebecca A. Balint is an American politician who is a member of the United States House of Representatives from Vermont's at-large congressional district as a member of the Democratic Party. She served as a member of the Vermont Senate from Windham County from 2015 to 2023, as majority leader from 2017 to 2021, and as president pro tempore from 2021 to 2023.
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Joseph Hooton Taylor
- Occupations
- physicistastronomerastrophysicistuniversity teacher
- Biography
-
Joseph Hooton Taylor Jr. is an American astrophysicist and Nobel Prize laureate in Physics for his discovery with Russell Alan Hulse of a "new type of pulsar, a discovery that has opened up new possibilities for the study of gravitation."
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Billy Taylor
- Occupations
- university teacherjazz musiciancomposerradio personalitymusic teacher
- Biography
-
Billy Taylor was an American jazz pianist, composer, broadcaster and educator. He was the Robert L. Jones Distinguished Professor of Music at East Carolina University in Greenville, and from 1994 was the artistic director for jazz at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
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John Edgar Wideman
- Occupations
- writernovelistuniversity teachercultural criticessayist
- Biography
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John Edgar Wideman is an American novelist, short story writer, memoirist, and essayist. He was the first person to win the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction twice. His writing is known for experimental techniques and a focus on the African-American experience.
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Cady Lalanne
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Cady Lalanne is a Haitian professional basketball player who plays for Kuwait SC. He played college basketball for the UMass Minutemen.
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Russell Alan Hulse
- Occupations
- physicistresearcherastrophysicistastronomer
- Biography
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Russell Alan Hulse is an American physicist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics, shared with his thesis advisor Joseph Hooton Taylor Jr., "for the discovery of a new type of pulsar, a discovery that has opened up new possibilities for the study of gravitation".
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Leila Ahmed
- Occupations
- university teacherwriter
- Biography
-
Leila Ahmed is an Egyptian-American scholar of Islam. In 1992 she published her book Women and Gender in Islam, which is regarded as a pioneering historical analysis of the position of women in Arab Muslim societies. She became the first professor of women's studies in religion at Harvard Divinity School in 1999, and has held the Victor S. Thomas Professor of Divinity chair since 2003. She was later awarded the Victor S. Thomas Research Professor of Divinity in 2020.
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Samuel Bowles
- Occupations
- economistuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Samuel Stebbins Bowles, is an American economist and Professor Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he continues to teach courses on microeconomics and the theory of institutions. His work belongs to the neo-Marxian (variably called post-Marxian) tradition of economic thought. However, his perspective on economics is eclectic and draws on various schools of thought, including what he and others refer to as post-Walrasian economics.
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Jeffrey Pollack
- Occupations
- entrepreneur
- Biography
-
Jeffrey Pollack is an American sports executive and business consultant. After a brief career in politics, Pollack moved into the industry of sports business where he's held executive roles with the NBA, NASCAR, World Series of Poker, Professional Bull Riders, Los Angeles Chargers and XFL.
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Kelly Link
- Occupations
- novelistchildren's writerscience fiction writerwriter
- Biography
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Kelly Link is an American editor and writer. Mainly known as an author of short stories, she published her first novel The Book of Love in 2024. While some of her fiction falls more clearly within genre categories, many of her stories might be described as slipstream or magic realism: a combination of science fiction, fantasy, horror, mystery, and realism. Among other honors, she has won a Hugo award, three Nebula awards, and a World Fantasy Award for her fiction, and she was one of the recipients of the 2018 MacArthur "Genius" Grant.
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Gail Collins
- Occupations
- journalist
- Biography
-
Gail Collins is an American journalist, op-ed columnist and author, most recognized for her work with The New York Times. Joining the Times in 1995 as a member of the editorial board, she served as the paper's Editorial Page Editor from 2001 to 2007 and was the first woman to attain that position.
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Toni Söderholm
- Occupations
- ice hockey player
- Biography
-
Toni Kristian Söderholm is a Finnish ice hockey coach and a retired ice hockey defenceman. He is the head coach of the German men's national team.
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Richard S. Sutton
- Occupations
- engineercomputer scientistartificial intelligence researcheruniversity teacher
- Biography
-
Richard S. Sutton is a Canadian computer scientist. He is a professor of computing science at the University of Alberta and a research scientist at Keen Technologies. Sutton is considered one of the founders of modern computational reinforcement learning, having several significant contributions to the field, including temporal difference learning and policy gradient methods.
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Hallie Rubenhold
- Occupations
- historianwritercurator
- Biography
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Hallie Rubenhold is an American-born British historian and author. Her work specializes in 18th and 19th century social history and women's history. Her 2019 book The Five, about the lives of the women murdered by Jack the Ripper, was shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize and won the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-fiction. Rubenhold's focus on the victims of murder (frequently women), rather than on the identity or the acts of the perpetrator, has been credited with changing attitudes to the proper commemoration of such crimes and to the appeal and function of the true crime genre.
